Oxidizing biocides are commonly used for the treatment of recirculating systems such as industrial cooling systems. It is common for tablet forms to be applied thru feeders such as flow through chlorinators or brominators. However, in many instances chlorine and bromine alone are not sufficient for the control of microbiological activity, especially in contaminated systems and/or where the pH is elevated which reduces the effectiveness of chlorine and bromine oxidizers.
Chlorine dioxide is an effective antimicrobial agent for use in food processing applications. Examples of food process applications include but are not limited to: vegetable and fruit washing, cleaning of animal processing equipment, cleaning of animal carcasses, treatment of poultry and animal habitats.
Chlorine dioxide has been shown to be very effective for the control of microbiological organisms. However, cost effective generation of chlorine dioxide requires on-sight generation from liquid reagents and substantial capital investment.
In recent years, tablets that generate chlorine dioxide have been developed, however their use in the treatment of recirculating systems is very limited due to high use cost and limited utility. High use cost is attributed to the tablet's low yields of chlorine dioxide and poor environmental stability that requires costly individual packaging of the tablets. Also, the high reactivity and rapid release of the chlorine dioxide results in a spike of treatment rather than the desirable controlled release to achieve a sustained concentration of treatment, and subsequent potential for generation of explosive conditions when applied in multi-tablet chemical dispensers due to elevated levels of potentially hazardous and explosive gas.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,699,404 to Speronello (“the Speronello patent”) discloses a massive body having a porous structure which substantially increases the percent conversion of chlorite to chlorine dioxide when compared to chlorite powder. The Speronello patent discloses two types of massive bodies: a water soluble type and a substantially water insoluble type. The substantially water insoluble massive body forms a porous framework that provides a higher efficiency of the conversion compared to the water-soluble massive body. According to the test data provided in the Speronello patent the maximum concentration of chlorine dioxide produced by a massive body that forms the porous framework is 149.4 mg/L. The water-soluble massive body reported (example 4) a maximum 27.4 mg/L.
In order to achieve 70% or more conversion of the chlorite to chlorine dioxide using the method disclosed in the Speronello patent, a substantial amount of inert materials are added to produce the porous structure or the porous framework. The level of inert salts ranges from 18 wt. % to 80 wt. %, with higher weight percentages increasing the conversion efficiency. The high levels of inert material, particularly in the water-soluble massive body, are further illustrated in commercial practice. For example, Aseptrol®, which is the commercialized product embodying the invention disclosed in the Speronello patent, is a water soluble tablet that requires 1.5 grams of Aseptrol® to 1 liter of water to produce 100 mg/L chlorine dioxide. This equates to approximately 67 mg/L chlorine dioxide based on 1 gram tablet per liter. The weight-% yield, which is defined as weight of the chlorine dioxide divided by the weight of the tablet, is low because of the high level of inert material. According to the data reported in the Speronello patent, the weight % yield is less than 15 wt. %, and less than 3% in the case of the water-soluble massive body. Based on the commercial product Aseptrol®, the weight percent yield of the water soluble commercial product is 6.7 wt. %.
It is desirable to increase the concentration of chlorine dioxide produced by a given mass of tablet to improve the economics based on the cost per pound of the tablet material versus pounds of chlorine dioxide produced. Such increase would also result in an overall performance enhancement offered by higher concentrations of chlorine dioxide. To achieve this objective, tablet conversion efficiency of >70% and a high reactant weight percent are desirable. It is also desirable to substantially increase the concentration of chlorine dioxide using a completely water-soluble composition to eliminate the problems associated with water insoluble constituents or byproducts such as residue silica based clays, or mineral salts such as calcium sulfate.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,384,006 and 6,319,888 to Wei et al. (“the Wei patents”) disclose a system for forming and releasing an aqueous peracid solution. The system includes a container and a peracid forming composition that includes about 10-60 wt. % of a chemical heater that, upon contact with water, generates heat to increase the yield of the peracid.
The Wei patents describe the potential use of a viscosity modifier within a permeable container to increase the viscosity in the localized area from about 300 to about 2,000 centipoise. The increased viscosity restricts and slows down the movement of peracid precursor and/or peroxygen source out of the permeable container. This results in an increased residence time of the peracid precursor and peroxygen source within the permeable container, which in turn translates to a greater reaction rate.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,569,353 to Giletto et al. (“the Giletto patent”) discloses using silica gel to increase the viscosity of various oxidants including an in-situ generated oxidant in order to keep them in intimate contact with the agents targeted for oxidation.
U.S. Published Application No. 2001/0012504 to Thangaraj et al. (“the Thangaraj application”) discloses a composition for producing chlorine dioxide comprising an acid source and a chlorite source, and a method comprising enclosing the composition in a gelatin capsule or membrane sheet such as a “tea bag”.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,688,515 discloses a composition comprising trichloroisocyanuric acid, sodium bromide, and dimethylhydantoin to produce hypobromous acid.
Patent Application WO 2007/078838 discloses a composition comprising an oxidizer and bromide donor along with a chlorite donor to produce chlorine dioxide. The compositions disclosed generate chlorine dioxide rapidly and preferably without the use of chlorine donors such as chlorinated isocyanurates. The compositions also require special packaging to prevent chlorine dioxide generation resulting from relative humidity.
In order to improve reaction kinetics, the above references teach using substantial quantities of inert materials to either provide a porous structure as in the case of the Speronello patent, or heat as in the cases of the Wei patents. While viscosity modifiers are referenced in the Wei patents, the viscosity range disclosed in the Wei patents does not reflect the formation of a gel.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,514,019 B2 discloses a solvent-activated reactor including a gel layer that allows for a water-soluble tablet composition that delivers at least a 70 wt % conversion of chlorite to chlorine dioxide and at least 14 wt % yield. However, the maximum yield of chlorine dioxide achieved in the disclosed data was 18.1 weight percent.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,465,410 B2 discloses a solvent-activated reactor comprising a core of reactants that are encapsulated by a solvent-permeable reactor wall. The solvent activated reactor allows for a convenient means of generating a target product, however provides no improvements in weight percent yield or environmental stability than that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,514,019 B2.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,150,854 discloses a device comprising a substrate and reagents that permits the rapid release of relatively small quantities of chlorine dioxide in liquid water as needed and is therefore quite useful for sterilizing water such that it is potable and useful as a germicidal liquid. Furthermore, the present invention lends itself to the separation of the reaction precursors into discrete zones or domains, thereby resulting in increased shelf life and the avoidance of expensive packaging.
Search still continues for a method of stabilizing reactive components for storage without compromising or limiting their function during usage. Furthermore, it is highly desirable to have an environmentally stable tablet composition that provides an enhanced weight percent yield of chlorine dioxide that is at least 20 wt %, preferably 25 wt % and most preferably at least 30 wt %. Further still, the application of chlorine dioxide is severely limited due to poor environmental stability which lends itself to individually wrapped packaging, increased use cost, and lack of controlled release.